‘This Woman is Nothing Short of Incredible’: USO Volunteer Pushes on in the Face of MS

On most weekdays – before USO Fort Riley opens and until after it closes in the evening – she is at the center making sure the building and its visitors are taken care of.

If she’s not welcoming people at the front desk, she’s organizing the storage room, talking to troops or scrubbing tables in the dining area. She’s a fixture here, donating nearly 11,000 hours of her time to the organization since 2011.

“While some of us are struggling just to wake up and get our coffee in the morning, Faythe has likely been at the USO for several hours,” USO Fort Riley Program Manager Crystal Tinkey wrote in an email.

The USO has nearly 30,000 volunteers at our centers around the world, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one like DeMaroney-Scaletta, who puts in thousands of hours a year despite battling multiple sclerosis that confines her to a wheelchair most of her day.

Officially, Faythe DeMaroney-Scaletta has spent more than 10,700 hours volunteering at the USO. Unofficially, the number is much higher because she doesn’t always keep track of the time she’s clocked.
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Photo credit USO photo by Eric Brandner

“[Faythe] can be overwhelmed and exhausted and will still push on with a smile on her face to ensure she is helping to fulfill the USO’s mission,” Tinkey said.

A few months after turning 20, DeMaroney-Scaletta was diagnosed with MS, a chronic disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Symptoms vary widely among patients, but pain, fatigue, vertigo, weakness and numbness in the limbs are a few of the disease’s most common signs.

DeMaroney-Scaletta, now 35, could have felt like a victim, but in talking to her, it’s clear she doesn’t see herself as a casualty of any disease.

“I [volunteer] instead of sitting at home, moping about my disability,“ she said. "I try to give back. It actually opens a lot of people’s eyes who don’t know about MS.”

When USO Fort Riley visitors ask why she uses a wheelchair, DeMaroney-Scaletta isn’t afraid to share her story. Many assume she’s a wounded service member, but when she tells them about MS and shows them what someone living with a chronic disease is capable of, they’re usually impressed.

Children, often shushed by their parents for fear of being rude, ask questions, too. She tells youngsters she can’t feel her legs below her knees and she uses her chair “to get places and help people when they come in to the USO.” She understands their curiosity because she’s a mom.

“I’ve had two beautiful children, and they’re healthy and marvelous and I couldn’t ask for anything better,” she said, adding that her kids live with her ex-husband in Indiana and are well cared for.

She said she was in a “bad place” before she started volunteering years ago and recalled an incident while she was having lunch with a former boyfriend at the post exchange. In the men’s room, her friend overheard two young soldiers making disparaging remarks about her and other disabled people.

“The girl in the wheelchair should never be allowed on post or be able to eat in the same facilities as others,” was the quote that was reported back to her. The friend was quick to defend her with some “choice words” as she put it, but that didn’t eliminate the sting of those insults.

“That kind of gets you down,” said DeMaroney-Scaletta, who started using a wheelchair in October 2007. “When you go out and people stare and treat you differently, it’s hard.”

Joining forces with the USO helped her put some of those feelings behind her.

“When I started [volunteering] and just getting more open and then telling people about things, it helped me get out of that bad spot, and I’ve helped others.”

“I think the toughness Faythe shows in battling MS more than inspires and motivates those around her,” Tinkey said. “It simply blows them away.”

Faythe DeMaroney-Scaletta has been recognized and honored for her work with the USO, but the self-described Army brat is not interested in statistics or accolades – she’s more concerned about the service members and military families she supports every day.
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Photo credit USO photo by Eric Brandner

Officially, DeMaroney-Scaletta has spent more than 10,700 hours volunteering at the USO. Unofficially, the number is much higher because she doesn’t always keep track of the time she’s clocked. The self-described Army brat is not interested in statistics or accolades – she’s more concerned about the service members and military families she supports every day.

“I’m not in it for the awards or recognition – which I don’t like,” she said. “I do the time just to help. It’s all I do. It’s all I know.”

If she had it her way, she’d be an anonymous USO volunteer, giving back to the military community she was born into.

“Because of her own experiences as both a military child and now a spouse, she has experienced firsthand what the families of our service members are going through.” Tinkey wrote. “[Her background] allows her to connect with those we serve on a deep and personal level.”

Her lifelong connection to the military continued when she met a soldier named Christopher Scaletta. He wandered into USO Fort Riley in 2011 and two years later, they were married. She said her husband, who was recently promoted to sergeant, is also a USO volunteer. It’s a good way to support his fellow soldiers and spend time with his wife at the same time.

“He gets frustrated that I spend so much time here – he wishes I would take some time off – but he knows how dedicated I am,” she said.

DeMaroney-Scaletta’s not afraid to test her physical limits and that sometimes gets her in trouble with friends, family and doctors.